Labor Backs Down on Permanent Spy Powers, Expands Offenses

Labor has quietly backed down on moves to make spy agency Asio’s powers for compulsory questioning permanent, but will expand offences covered by the rules to include promotion of communal violence and attacks on Australia’s defence system.

The laws were introduced in the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US and give intelligence operatives powers to issue a questioning warrant requiring a person as young as 14 to give information or produce items that may assist in a serious investigation.

Labor argued changes to the laws are justified by the “dynamic, diverse and degraded” security environment facing Australia today. The government wanted sabotage, promotion of communal violence and serious threats to Australia’s territorial and border integrity to be covered by the rules.

In July last year the Albanese government said it planned to change the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act, to remove so-called sunset provisions, the effective expiry dates which require parliament to reconsider the powers on a regular basis.

But, as the Senate inched closer to voting on the laws, the government dropped plans to remove sunset provisions. Instead, amendments to the law will require a review every three years.

Labor opted not to press for the sunsetting powers to be removed so it could get the bill through parliament, with support from the Coalition.

Greens justice spokesperson David Shoebridge has raised serious concerns about extending the areas covered by the laws.

“The government was forced to reverse course and restore the sunset clause which is something that almost never happens. It’s a testament to what happens when communities organise and refuse to be ignored,” he told Guardian Australia.

“When we questioned Asio in Senate estimates about why they wanted these expanded powers, what conduct it was intended to cover, their answers were confused and unclear. If anything, they increased my concern about the intention of these laws.

“The expanded criteria for warrantless questioning is so broad it could sweep up activists and community members engaged in entirely legitimate activities with no requirement for even suspicion of criminality. This looks increasingly like a tool for silencing people and targeting community organising.”

The Greens expect the Senate to vote on the changes later this month, nearly a year after they were first floated following the 2025 federal election.

Parliament is set to resume on 22 June.

“Even with the sunset clause reinserted these laws are chilling with children as young as 14 able to be hauled in for secret questioning with no lawyer and no right to silence and no reasonable cause,” Shoebridge said.

The Australian human rights commissioner, Lorraine Finlay, had previously warned against moves to extend the compulsory questioning laws, noting the ongoing use of powers that were initially designed to be temporary.

The commission told a parliamentary inquiry that in many instances the questioning powers “limit human rights without reasonable justification under international human rights law”.

When the laws were introduced, the Howard government attorney general Daryl Williams described them as “extraordinary” and “a measure of last resort”.

Data provided to parliament shows the powers have hardly been used since 2020, with just four warrants served on three people, in counter-terror and espionage cases.